Dalit thinker and political commentator
Chandra Bhan Prasad is widely regarded as the most important Dalit thinker and political commentator in India today, advocating on behalf of the more than 16 percent of India’s population who have historically been regarded as untouchable by orthodox Hinduism. He was the first Dalit to gain a regular column in a national English-language Indian newspaper, more than 50 years after India’s independence. His weekly Dalit Diary has been a regular feature of The Pioneer since 1999, and is routinely translated into other major Indian languages.
Prasad is also the author of the book Dalit Phobia: Why Do They Hate Us (Vitasta, New Delhi, 2006); his writings are used by South Asia faculty globally to question assumptions about caste and Indian society. Prasad studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, where he completed his M.A. and M.Phil. in international affairs.
It is no exaggeration to say that Chandra Bhan Prasad has single-handedly reshaped the agendas now being advocated by Dalit groups across India. His political commentaries have been among the most astute readings of the new directions in which Indian democratic processes have been moving. Most recently, in the May 2007 Assembly elections in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, he alone predicted and was able to explain the unprecedented alliance between Dalits and upper caste groups that led to the first ever outright victory of a Dalit political party in India, the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Co-sponsored by The Department of South Asia Studies